How do freelance writers make money online? (Get paid writing from home!)

How do freelance writers make money online?

Freelance writers make an online living by providing written content to clients. Freelancers often provide social media content, blog articles, email copy, and more. Successful freelance writers often make between a couple hundred dollars and a full-time income online.

Wouldn’t you want to make a full-time living from your computer? 

What if you could make $250 today from a beach down in Mexico? Fortunately, you can live this lifestyle if you work hard to build your freelance writing business.

You just have to start. 

You may not feel confident about your writing and that’s okay. Everybody has to start somewhere. Remember, you won’t make any money online unless you just get started.

Luckily for you, I’m going to show you how freelance writers make a living online. With enough hustle, you’ll start to bring in extra income each month.

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How do freelance writers make a living?

A freelance writer makes a living online by providing written content to clients. Therefore,  a freelancer is in charge of finding clients, producing work, and sending invoices. 

So who is hiring freelance writers?

Today, most freelancers find work by working for bloggers.   Bloggers are constantly producing articles for their websites. In addition, some online marketers need help with emails and social media content.

You have an amazing opportunity to find work online as a freelance writer. The internet is only getting larger and it needs content  to grow. Every website is a new opportunity for you to find work.

What types of work might I create as a freelance writer?

As mentioned, you will most likely produce blog articles and email copy. Therefore, you should try to learn the basics of search engine optimization (SEO).

Search engine optimization is the practice of getting articles to rank on the front page of Google. Freelance writers can demand higher pay for producing amazingly optimized articles. I cannot stress the value of you knowing SEO as a writer.

Finding freelance writers who are experienced with SEO is very difficult. If you can show experience in ranking articles on Google, then you will be an in-demand writer.

You may also be asked to produce an ebook. An ebook is a digital course or book that an online business intends to sell. Writing an ebook is less common for freelance writer, but it may come up.

Don’t forget to invoice

One of everyone’s least favorite parts of freelancing is sending an invoice. However, you need to send an invoice to bill for your writing services.  Luckily, creating and sending an invoice doesn’t have to be complicated. 

Creating an invoice  can be as simple as using a Google sheet. Information you should include in your invoice includes: 

• Job or invoice number –  an invoice number is handy for future reference. Your client may ask you about a specific invoice number. 
• The title or description of task –  having a short description helps you and your client know what the scope of work was.
• Invoice date – lets you and your client know when the invoices are printed or sent. 
• Payment due date –  So your client knows when the payment is due. Payment terms are generally set when you establish a service agreement.
• Tax identification number –  Only used if you have formed a company.
• Name of your company –  Again, only used if you formed a company. 
• Method of payment –  Generally, freelancers use PayPal or Venmo.

Google sheets includes a basic template you can use for invoicing. Ideally, you would create your own invoice that fits your situation.

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How much do freelance writers get paid? 

Freelance writers can be paid hourly, by word, or by project. On average, a beginner freelance writer charges anywhere between $0.10 and $0.25 per word. Professional freelancers understand charging per project results in the highest hourly rate.

My experience is $0.10 per word wins work

As someone that has hired multiple freelancers, $0.10 per word seems to be the sweet spot. From what I’ve seen, $0.10 is usually the average quoted rate from beginner freelancers.

Usually, whenever I get a quote that is $0.05 or less per word it doesn’t work out. Typically, these freelancers lack experience.  Most commonly, these freelancers use run-on sentences, are extra wordy, and do not optimized for SEO.

Generally, someone who charges $0.10 per word requires minimal work to bring up to speed. These freelancers can usually show signs of ranking on Google. Some of these Freelancers even have their own blog.

Sometimes we will get a quote for $0.30 per word. Unfortunately, some growing companies cannot afford to pay $0.30 per word.

Therefore,  keep those guidelines in mind when you create your own rates. There is nothing wrong with charging $0.30 per word. The only downside is that it may take a while to find a client that can pay that rate. 

However, if you want to charge $0.10 per word then you are more likely to find readily available work. You can always increase your rates once you get a steady workflow. 

Why you should charge per project

Professional freelancers know that they should charge per project. The reason is because these freelancers can write an article quickly. Some may charge $300 for an article that they can knock out in 1 hour.

In other words, they have a $300 per hour rate. The client doesn’t know that they can finish an article in one hour and that’s okay. The client has agreed to a $300 per article rate and it’s up to the freelancer to finish it quickly. 

Therefore, you should figure out how quickly it takes you to write 500 Words. From there, you should know how long it takes you to write an article depending on if it’s 1500 words or 2,000.

A little-known secret among freelancers is Google speech to text. Did you know Google Docs has a fairly accurate speech to text tool? 

Therefore, you can speak an article quickly to get your thoughts down on paper. Once the article is done, it’s just a matter of cleaning it up for formatting.

How do freelance writers find work?

One of the best places to find work as a freelancer is Facebook. There are several freelance writing groups where companies come to find Freelancers. You can also use other social media, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, to advertise yourself as a freelance writer.

I have known a business owner or two that have dived into LinkedIn to recruit freelance writers. Therefore, as a freelancer, I highly recommend optimizing your LinkedIn account. You should update your work history to include companies that you freelanced for.

Build your portfolio

However, don’t forget to build a portfolio before you get too carried away on social media. A potential client will reach out because they want to see examples of your work. Therefore, it is important to have examples of your writing on hand.

The best thing you can do is to own and operate your own blog. Most of your clients will be bloggers, so having blog experience helps. Ideally, you should be able to show your Analytics as social proof that your content attracts readers. You will receive extra points if you can show traffic coming from Google.

However, it does cost money to operate a blog. Therefore, you may want to find other ways to Showcase your work.

You can always write a few examples of work in a Google doc. you can then share that article with potential clients.

Alternatively, you can host your articles on a free platform such as Blogger, Blogspot, or Tumblr.

Look at Job Boards

You can often find freelance writing work on job boards. A job board is when a company posts that they are looking for a writer online. Usually, most job posting are on a highly visible website where multiple freelance writers can find it.

One of the most popular job boards is ProBlogger. Problogger is an authoritative website in the blogging space. You can also find work or talent for writing on their job board. 

Network

Some of the most successful freelance writers are huge networkers. The more you network, the higher chance you’ll find writing work. Sometimes, it is all about who you know.

Luckily, there are many ways to network in this day and age. You should seek out as many Facebook groups as possible in the blogging and freelance writing spaces. Consider following other freelance writers on Twitter and Linkedin.

You can also do a Google search for terms such as freelance writers needed or write for us. You will find a lot of websites who are actively hiring freelance writers.

Always be Improving your writing

As a freelance writer, you should always be actively seeking to improve your writing. Your writing will improve with the more you write. Remember, people who hire freelance writers want to find the highest quality writer for the lowest price.

When you’re first starting out, it may be difficult to find work. However, as your work improves it will become easier to find work. Once you have multiple clients, look to increase your rates gradually.

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Summary: How do freelance writers make money online?

As you can see, there is a huge need for freelance writers. Generally, bloggers will be your top client. You will make money by providing written content such as blog articles, email copy, and social media content.

Writers who stand out have a good knowledge of search engine optimization. Ideally, you should be able to show proof of ranking on Google. However, if you are new to freelancing then you may not have content that ranks, which is okay.

You should have a clear idea of how you will invoice before you start finding freelance writing work. Most freelance writers take payment through PayPal or Venmo.

How much you get paid usually depends on your experience. However, my experience is that $0.10 per word is what wins work. People who charge less than $0.05 per word typically do not work out. Charging $0.30 per word or more may make it difficult for you to find work.

If you want to make good money freelancing, I suggest you charge per project. The goal is to finish work quickly and efficiently. 

Imagine, charging a flat rate of $150 for a 1500 word article. to the client, it looks like you are charging $0.10 per word. However, you know that this article can be written in 2 hours. Therefore, you now have an hourly rate of $75 per hour. 

To find work, start by building your portfolio. Networking is by far one of the best ways to find work as a freelance writer. Alternatively, you should look at the job boards online and apply for work you are interested in. 

Always look to improve your work. Remember, clients are always looking to get the best quality writing for the lowest price.